


sky's the limit

by isloremipsumafterall (orphan_account)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, F/F, M/M, pretty much every trope that comes with Star Trek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 11:05:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2619443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/isloremipsumafterall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a red shirt on ship that has the second most deaths after the Enterprise is hard enough even if you are the Chief Engineer, it's made even worse when you start to fall for your new red shirt coworker because Fitz has bad enough luck, Mack's not making it easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sky's the limit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [plinys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/gifts).



> unbeta'd and all mistakes are mine

There’s no simulation that could possibly have prepared Fitz for the emergency that occur on a starship. Last week they had to find a way to outsmart an omnipotent being.

(Who happened to be Skye’s father to add into a new level of crazy on the ship; Skye’s still working through it really.)

Just prior to that it was convincing two rival worlds who had been fighting for five earth centuries to end a war.

(Fitz still has the rash from when Trip had to push him into one of the native bushes on the plant to avoid phaser fire.)

But Fitz catches on quick enough that the worst moments on the ship are when it’s quiet because he can’t actually enjoy those; it’s the moment right before everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

“You need to get laid.” Skye tells him at the lunch table. “You are far too wound up.”

“Shush you. Not all of us can find bed partners so quickly.” He tries not to look longingly at the joined hands of Jemma and Skye and thinks he succeeds.

Though judging by the sad look Jemma is giving him maybe not.

(Well, sad as half Vulcan looks can get but Fitz knows how to read between the lines with Jemma and she does portray her human side quite well at times.)

“You should probably stop making out with Simmons before Coulson sees.”

Skye seems to forget that they all know Jemma comes from a touch telepath type species and hand holding it practically first base for them.

“And I’m perfectly fine.” He insists and shoves a piece of bread into his mouth to dissuade further discussion, chewing on it with vigour.

They’re still giving him sad looks and it’s ridiculous because really, he is perfectly fine.

* * *

 

The universe likes to screw with him to prove that he’s a liar or something because the next mission goes horribly wrong and Fitz ends up in Medbay with Jemma hovering over him, trying to hold it all together as Coulson offers his apologies for the loss of one of his teammates.

The lifespan on a starship that traverses the universe for exploration and peace is vastly smaller than that on any other ship. Fitz knew that going in. It still hurts when someone dies though.

What’s worse is that they can’t just wait around and mourn, a new replacement comes in right away with the rest of the crew that they have to fill in.

So he’s left waiting in the Transporter room beside Trip who’s also lost a member of his team for the new arrivals.

The transporter comes to life as the new recruits are beamed aboard. They’re both human which is unusual on the ship, there are hardly any humans let alone earthlings on board, Fitz belongs in a small minority. Not even Trip’s technically all human, his grandmother was an Orion, first Orion to make Captain as a matter of fact.

One of them is white, he wears downtime clothes instead of his uniform and Fitz can’t help but shake his head a little because he tries that here Coulson or Hill will end up tearing him a new one.

The other one though has Fitz’s attention and not just because he’s the taller of the two. He’s wearing his uniform, the bright red that clashes with everyone or so Fitz had thought because the dark-skinned man is pulling it off.

Judging by the amount of muscles that are under the uniform (could they not find one his size? Not that Fitz blames them or anything) chances are he belongs in Security with Trip.

Which shouldn’t be as much as a downfall to Fitz as it is, in a way it’s good that this man’s not working directly under him because maybe then Fitz could gather up the courage to ask him out without having to worry about forms to fill out for dating an underling.

“Welcome to the Triskelion.” Captain Hill welcomes them, “This is Lieutenant’s Triplett and Fitz, they’ll be in charge of you respectively and I’ll leave it to them to get you settled in. Also we expect uniforms to be worn at all times during your shift. Gentlemen.”

With a nod of her head she’s gone.

“Just Trip is fine.” Trip sticks his hand out and the smaller of the two grabs it.

“Lance Hunter.” He introduces himself and Fitz pauses because according to the record Hunter belongs in Security whereas the other man belongs in Engineering with Fitz and if this guy is Hunter than that means that the taller man is-

“Alphonso Mackenzie. People just call me Mack.”

Fitz takes the hand that’s offered in front of him, smiling weakly.

“Welcome to the Triskelion, Mack. I’m Fitz.”

Mack grins back, “Guess I’m going to be working closely with you then.”

He claps Fitz on the shoulder with his other hand, it makes his shirt stretch even more across him.

Fitz tries not to whimper. He’s so screwed and not in the way that he’d like to be.

* * *

 

Mack’s laid out on his back when Fitz gets into Engineering the next day, he’s under one of the compartments and taking a reading from the system to make sure it’s standard.

All it’s doing is giving Fitz terrible ideas and Skye’s right. He needs to sleep with someone soon because he can’t be thinking about someone in that way who’s a lower rank and working for him and only been here for less than twenty four standard hours.

“Hey Fitz.” Mack greets him as he slides out from under the compartment. “What’s going on?”

“Tour.” Fitz says. “I thought you’d like the tour now seeing as how we missed it yesterday.”

He had shown Mack where engineering was, muttered something about having Mack check data the next day, dropped Mack off at his quarters and left.

It wasn’t his finest hour.

At least he’s off to a great start employee wise what with Mack getting the jump on data collecting. That’s…something.

“Works for me.” Mack presses a few buttons on the tricorder to upload the data to the main computer, reattaching it to his belt when he’s done and grinning at Fitz.

The doors whistle open as they walk by and Fitz debates on taking him to the bridge or somewhere else first, its alpha shift so most of his friends are on the bridge, unfortunately that also means most of his friends are on there and will tease him if he brings Mack there right away.

Medbay it is.

“Did you sleep well?” Fitz asks, fingers tapping on the tablet he has in his hands. He’s never been good at greeting the new employees anyway even though that is part of his job as Chief Engineer.

Mack shrugs, “Pretty similar to my room on my ship. Bit bigger. Thought maybe the Triskelion would have some better beds though.”

Fitz remembers that hope.

“We could commission you a new bed.” He offers.

Mack looks over at him, “Wouldn’t that be a little strange given how new I am?”

“I could do it. For you. I mean, as your boss and all.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I will.” He insists, now determined, if only to end this talk which has gotten off track.

“Okay then, I appreciate it.” Mack smiles at him and Fitz smiles back though it’s much more awkward.

When they get to the Medbay Jemma’s sitting at her desk and skimming through a report, she looks up when they come in and smiles widely.

“Fitz!” She gets up and then frowns, looking over at him, “You haven’t hurt yourself again have you?”

“No.” He’d be insulted that’s her first thought except that that happens to him often enough. It happens to most of the people who wear the red uniforms often enough, he’s been making a note every time it happens and his data suggests it’s at least ten times more likely to happen to them than anyone else. “I’m just showing Mack around.”

He gestures to the man behind him and Jemma offers the taller man a smile and waves. Mack looks a little confused as to why she’s not shaking the hand that he’s stuck out when she points to her ears.

“Half Vulcan, I’m afraid I don’t like touching people without gloves very often, too much emotional transference.”

Mack’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You seem pretty emotional for a half Vulcan.”

He’s of course thinking of Commander Spock from all those years ago, the most famous half Vulcan ever and Jemma brushes that off with a wave of her hand.

“I was raised on earth.” She explains, “There’s nothing wrong with being in touch and showing emotions, though I do much prefer that things take the logical route.”

What she isn’t saying is that she was once as bad as Commander Spock when she and Fitz first met at the academy. She’s come a long way and a lot of that has to do with dating Skye now, Fitz may have been jealous a few years ago but that’s long since faded now.

“Makes sense. Don’t we all.” By the smile on Mack’s face Fitz gets the feeling he’s mostly kidding, the man just seems to go with things, nodding when Jemma explains it.

“So you’re new to Fitz’s team then?”

“Yup, be working close with the chief here.” Mack claps him on the shoulder.

Jemma’s eyebrow raises at that and Fitz curses himself for bringing Mack here first because she’s obviously going to tell Skye about this and Mack being so tactile already which isn’t fair because he’s hardly spoken more than ten sentences to the man, Jemma’s probably talked to him more right now.

‘Don’t say anything’ he mouths to her and turns to Mack. “I think we should get going, lots of the ship to see, plenty to do.”

“If you are going to be working closely with Fitz then do keep an eye on him. Try not to let him catch on fire again.” Jemma comments.

He shoves Mack out of the room, glancing back quickly behind him at Jemma who staring back serenely and stifles the urge to stick his tongue out at her.

“You get hurt around here a lot?” Mack asks when they get out into the hallway again.

“Not a lot. Just more than a relative amount. It happens on this ship a lot.” It would be a shame if it happened to Mack, Fitz is going to have to make sure that as his boss he doesn’t let him go on away missions. Of course that just means he’ll have to be the one to go and none of this is sounding appealing anymore.

The turbolift hums as it takes them to the bridge and when they get there it is amazingly quiet. Hill must have been in a meeting with Admiral Fury because May was sitting at the command chair and nodded at Fitz and Mack when they stepped in.

“That’s Commander May there, Skye’s the one on Communications, The Koenig twins are the ones on Navigation; don’t worry about their names, no one’s really sure who’s who.” Fitz told him and then pointed towards the seat next to Skye, “That’s Coulson, the ships Counsellor, he mostly stays around here and Medbay helping people and if you need to talk to someone that’s what he’s here for. Or me. I’m here too.”

He bite his tongue to stop the babbling and waved at Skye when she noticed them, when her eyes fell on Mack they lit up and she pushed away from her seat to walk over.

“New guy hunh? Welcome aboard, try not to die.”

“What?” Mack frowned at that.

“Ignore her. She says that to everyone and thinks that she’s funny.” Fitz said back to him, rolling his eyes.

“Hey I am funny. So new guy, where’d you come from?”

Fitz means to listen in, Mack’s voice rumbling right next to him except there’s a ping on his tablet that signals a message and he looks down.

_Fitz do you like him?_

It’s from Jemma and he glances quickly over in Mack’s direction to make sure the other man can’t see the tiny letters on his screen and shifts away slightly.

**As an officer who works under me he seems fine so far.**

It is amazing how much meaning Jemma can put just by typing his name.

**He’s attractive. But I hardly know him, we’ve only spoken briefly.**

_That’s how Skye and I started out._

**You and Skye started out by you saving her life and her opening her eyes and hitting on you.**

_Do you want me to hypospray him for you? Then he can open his eyes and see you._

**No. Jemma.**

The problem is she really would.

“-so you’ve really got to keep an eye on Fitz is all I’m saying.”

He whirls back around at Skye’s voice and glares at her, Mack looks amused.

“I was already warned not to let him catch on fire.”

“Take the advice to heart.” Skye’s nodding her head sagely.

“Stop teaching my coworkers bad things.” Fitz tells her. “That only happened once.”

“Yeah. Once on the ship. Once on that away mission to Rigel VII. Once on shoreleave.”

“This is mutiny.” He mutters.

Mack jostles his arm, “Hey I’m on your side.”

He shouldn’t be feeling warm from that statement already but he does, flush on his face trying to match his uniform.

Skye catches it and grins in triumph and Fitz knows that Jemma’s already messaged her and really, he’s allowed to find his coworker attractive without it going anywhere and more than that he really doesn’t Mack.

“We should go. We have things to work on. Tour to finish.”

Mack waves goodbye at Skye as he’s pushed back towards the turbolift. He can see her heading back over and whispering something to Coulson and hopes that it isn’t about him at all.

The rest of the tour of the ship goes in blissful silence, they don’t run into anyone else who can tease Fitz over things and it makes him relax a bit, enjoying getting out of Engineering for a bit but also glad to be in the comfort of the room he’s used to when they make it back.

Which of course is when the Romulans attack.

* * *

 

“Man they were not kidding when they said to watch you.”

“Shut it.” Fitz is leaning heavily against Mack, practically held up completely by the other man who’s carefully leading him down the hall while not putting pressure on his now broken leg. His head feels like it’s swimming and the only thing he can really focus on is how warm the bulk of Mack’s chest is against his cheek where he’s resting it.

“I mean the ship rocks forward from phaser fire and you somehow fall back at that exact moment into a duct.”

“Please stop narrating the events.” Fitz is going to take back this less twenty four hour crush, it was a mistake.

“Still, I’m impressed, you still got up and sped around the room and got us all back into balance again with the power you managed to get to the thrusters, honestly Turbo, don’t know how you do it.” Mack’s glancing down at him and just grinning and Fitz stares at him.

“You helped.” Is all he says.

“Under your direction. No way would I have been able to come up with that solution.” Mack sounds genuinely impressed by him, as he should be.

“You’re good with your hands.” He murmurs and is grateful that they’re reached the bed bay because Mack shoots him a look that he can’t quite decipher.

Jemma sees them and directs them to a bed.

“Oh Fitz, a broken leg…” Jemma starts scanning it, hitting him with a hypospray that numbs the throbbing pain he’s been feeling and he sighs.

Mack’s still there next to the bed looking at Jemma.

“He gonna be okay doc?”

“He’ll be fine, I’ve just got to get the osteogenic stimulator and we can heal him right up.”

“The what?” Mack asks as she leaves.

“Osteogenic stimulator. Repairs bones. Jemma and I developed it.” Even drugged up and dizzy as he is he still manages to sound proud of that because he is. He and Jemma have developed a lot of things that have helped out in the Federation; they’re practically heroes of the technologic world. They ought to get metals He should write Fury about that.

He should also write to Fury about changing the uniforms and send in that report he’s made about those wearing red shirts being hurt and killed more often, it’s very disparaging in its results because Mack wears a red shirt and now he doesn’t want Mack to die. He’s too good with his hands.

As an employee. That’s what Fitz cares about.

Not at all to do with how Mack’s running his one hand over Fitz’s arm like to make sure the smaller man will be okay while the other remains steady on his shoulder, spanning over and encompassing it.

This is all Kirk’s fault; he started this horrible trend all those years ago. Before this engineering people died a regular amount.

“Why are you talking about uniforms?” Mack asks him suddenly.

“They’re a travesty.” He replies.

Jemma come back then and saves him from having to talk again by fixing his leg right up, it’ll still be sore for a few days but at least he can move on it properly again.

“The concussion just needs someone to be watching you tonight.” She peer into his eyes and gauges how fast he can track her finger in the air. “You can stay in Medbay.”

Fitz groans because he emphatically doesn’t want to.

“Unless you can find someone to watch you then you don’t have a choice.”

He’s about to argue with that logic when Mack cuts in.

“I’ll do it.”

He looks over at Mack so fast his head feels like it’s spinning again.

Jemma nods her head appreciatively with a small smile. “There we go then. Stay with Fitz tonight, make sure he doesn’t do anything else.”

“I’m right here.”

They both ignore him, Mack nodding back his agreement and Fitz suddenly doomed to be spending a while night with his new attractive coworker on his second night on the ship in his enclosed quarters.

Jemma’s laughing at him and he knows it.

* * *

 

They end up playing 3D chess, Mack’s not too bad at it but even slightly concussed Fitz is still beating him.

“I don’t think you’re actually wounded.” Mack tells him when he wins a fifth round and Fitz just grins at him and sets the board up again.

Mack sighs. “There’s got to be something else we can do. Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

He leaves and is back fifteen minutes later, hands full with electronics.

“What’s this?” Fitz looks at it as Mack sets it up on his screen in the modest living area of his quarters.

“Xbox. Got it from an antique shop in San Fran during shoreleave one time. Lance and I usually play it, thought you could use something new.”

“I can’t play while concussed.” Fitz argues, he wouldn’t be able to focus on the screen at all.

Mack shrugs, “Guess we’ll just have to when you’re better then, can stay in here for now.”

He takes a seat back across from Fitz and fiddles with one of the pieces.

“You know this might be cooler if it was more holographic. We’ve got spaceships and teleporters but no holograms, I mean have you read the old science fiction books. We’re just not living it up in style according to them.”

Fitz’s fingers tap along the table and he bites his lip, chewing on it and wondering. Mack catches the movement and looks curious.

“I’ve been…looking into it.” He says, turning away from Mack to open the drawer of the desk that’s just behind him and pulling out a blueprint.

He hasn’t shown it to anyone, not even Jemma. It isn’t for real advancement, more for fun and Jemma for all that she loves partnering with him would probably not see the logic in it. Well she might if he told her Skye would be happy with it, but beyond that not so much.

“The…Holodeck?” Mack reads the title, fingers sliding over the paper as he takes in all of Fitz’s notes and he whistles, impressed.

“It’s for downtimes. People can go in there with preprogrammed simulations that would have to be built out but they could also expand on them while in there and save them for a later date. There’s a safety feature obviously, but it can also be over written for anyone who chooses.”

He’s thinking about Klingons who have started making noises about joining the Federation, heard about the peace talks.

“What would you do with it?” Mack asks, looking up. His eyes are a soft brown in the light of the quarters, Fitz wonders how they would look if he dimmed the lights, shadows falling on their faces, and leaned over to-

Skye is right. He needs to get laid.

He jerks slightly to dislodge the thoughts that are forming and shrugs. “Live out a monster movie. Watch them in live action. You?”

Mack hums, “Program a mechanics shop and work on old cars, that’s what I liked doing on earth.”

Fitz can just picture Mack on his back, underneath a car, long legs just showing encased in jeans and skin gleaming from sweat mixed with engine oil. It makes a pretty picture.

“Be fun to live a movie though,” Mack continues, he reaches over the table and claps Fitz on the shoulder. “This is brilliant.”

“Course it is. I built it.”

Mack just seems amused by his pride in it.

“Do you want to help?” He isn’t sure what makes him ask that, it’s his downtime project that he works on while alone in his room but the thought of spending it with Mack is appealing to him, and not just because he finds the other man attractive but also because Mack as proven today would be able to keep up with him and is good with his hands.

Mack’s answer is to grin wider and squeeze the shoulder he still has in his grasp.

* * *

 

“Heard that you spend the night with the new guy already, Fitz you been holding out on me?” Trip sets his tray across from Fitz at the table.

Fitz ignores the quarter blooded Orion in favour of drinking the replicated tea but frowns at it because it still doesn’t taste right.

Reprogramming the replicators has always been a trick he’s never quite managed, it’s like they hate him. One time they replicated tribbles and Hill was furious when they took over the ship.

Coulson still has one in his office.

To this day he still hasn’t figured out how he managed to do that.

“I was concussed. Mack was just keeping an eye on me.” Fitz replies once he sees Trip’s not going to drop it, taking a bite of his toast which at least tastes fine.

“Uh hunh. New guy keeping an eye on you all night, how nice of him. Pretty sure if I were new I wouldn’t be doing that even if that person was my boss.”

“Yes. Well. I am his boss and he’s not you, so.”

The conversation ends with the sad reminder that he is in fact, higher up than Mack.

“So…does that mean I can ask him out?”

“No.” He shoots Trip a withering glare that turns into a smile when Mack shows up, shifting over slightly so the other man can sit down.

“We’ll be spending today fixing the power couplings.” Fitz tells him and let’s himself get immersed in his job, going on about what needs to be done as Mack nods his head and comments here and there with various suggestions.

He ignores Trips bright smile from across the table and hopes that he can at least get some work done today before the other man tells this to Jemma and Skye.

* * *

 

He and Mack work well together, it’s only been two weeks since Mack’s started but he’s by far the best coworker Fitz has had. He doesn’t get annoyed when Fitz is going to fast, just nods, calls him Turbo and does what needs doing and he just shrugs it off when Fitz gets snappy, dragging him back to his quarters after the shift and putting on a game as they’ve been doing the last week before they get into the blueprints for the Holodeck.

It’s how he also discovers that Mack has little concept of personal space or at least of Fitz’s personal space, leaning into it as he talks like he’s listening to every word Fitz is saying. If it wasn’t so flattering and Mack wasn’t so mesmerizing when he looked up at Fitz and blinked at him, eyes peering out from under long lashes and dark in the ships light, then Fitz would have made it stop a long time ago.

As it stands he doesn’t want it to end. He’s enjoying Mack’s company too much.

He’d be liking it more if it wasn’t for his friends teasing him every which way he went and Coulson cornering him and offering to talk every other day but it isn’t like he can escape them on this ship unless he hides out in Mack’s room. He ends up there a lot too, pulling his blueprints in there with him and they throw themselves into the work.

Honestly he can ignore his growing feelings for the other man because he’s enjoying himself so much.

Until their first away mission together.

* * *

 

The first problem is when Mack meets him at the transporter room in his dress uniform that cuts in all the right places, fabric clinging to him in a way that’s so much better and worse than his normal uniform does. Fitz really needs to put in a requisition to have the uniforms changed soon.

And the colour of them, he can’t forget that. Let command be the red targets for once.

(He’s ignoring Jemma’s sound points that red is shared with security and thus most of the casualties fall on them and Fitz is really just the outlier of the statistic for engineering.)

The second problem is that when they get down to the planet for the ambassador mission that he’s pretty sure Coulson only sent both of them on in some deluded attempt to team up with his friends to fix him up with Mack that Mack asks him to take a walk.

That’s not really the problem.

The problem is really two things that stem from his agreement, three things if you count that he’s going to burn easily from the sun at any moment, no the real problem is when Fitz almost falls into a ravine and Mack goes to catch him but ends up being the one who tumbles down the hill into a pile of flowers, trudging out of it reeking of a sickly sweet scent which is then followed by that exact moment when the Gorn try to invade the planet.

Mack immediately starts dragging him back towards the trees, away from the ship that’s shooting fire and they’re running, stopping only to a halt when the sounds are far far away.

The Gorn must have a jammer they’ve stolen of some sort because his communicator doesn’t work when he tries to call for help.

He looks over at Mack to ask him to try his just in case and frowns because the other man is breathing heavily, bent over like he’s in pain.

“Mack?” Fitz rests a hand on his back lightly to get his attention but Mack jerks at it like he’s hurting him. “Mack?”

He’s suddenly slammed against a tree, hands pinning his shoulders there as Mack crushes his lips against Fitz’s in a bruising kiss, breath hot against his skin as Mack trails open mouthed kisses from his mouth down to his jawline and to his neck, just above his uniform, where he starts sucking a dark mark into the skin.

It’s like everything that Fitz has been thinking about for a while with Mack now which is why he clutches on to his shirt to pull him closer before the cloying smell of flowers tickles his nose again and his eyes widen, shoving Mack back.

“Pollen.” Fitz says, holding his hands out in front of him when Mack tries to step in closer. “You’ve been sex pollened.”

Mack looks confused at that, shaking his head to get rid of muddled thoughts.

“Listen to me, you don’t want this.”

That makes the frown on Mack’s face deepen.

“You’ve just got an uncontrollable urge to have sex with me because I’m the closest one around.” He feels like he’s reminding himself of that too because obviously Mack wouldn’t want this, he’s just become friends with Fitz and Fitz is his boss.

Fitz feels like pulling his hair out, hands running through it and tugging in frustration when Mack reaches out and pulls his hands away but doesn’t do anything more than that, holding them in between them and looking at Fitz like he’s about to say something.

It can’t be easy for him, Fitz can see the flush that’s risen on Mack’s skin, sweat that didn’t come from their sudden run that trails down his neck. He has the sudden urge to lick it off, make Mack feel better and his breathing quickens.

The pollen must have transferred onto him too, made worse by his already growing attraction for Mack but he bites the inside of this cheek hard to focus against it because if Mack can hold himself at bay while swimming in the stuff Fitz can while only dealing with some of it.

“Listen, Fitz.” Mack finally say, struggling to get the words out. “There’s something I’ve gotta tell you.”

Before he can continue though Fitz’s communicator comes to life and a shuttle flies over the forest.

“Fitz, Mack, come in.” It’s Trip.

“We’re here.” Fitz pulls one hand from Mack’s grasp to hit his communicator. “Don’t come near us though, we need a quarantine, we’ve been hit by some kind of pollen.”

No use in telling Trip what it was, quarantine set up would kill any of the pollen and let them walk away with their pride.

“You two hurt beyond that?”

“No, we’re fine.” And still holding hands Fitz thought quietly, looking at his one hand still enclosed in Mack’s own. “What about the Gorn?”

“Taken care of, just a rogue unit, we’re going exploring for the ship they came from soon as we found you guys. Hold tight, Jemma’s setting up quarantine in the back of the shuttle now.”

Mack doesn’t let go of his hand even as the shuttle lands and they back their way to the back of it that’s been closed off, getting into the hydro spray showers that have been set up.

It’s times like these he wishes he wasn’t human and at least had the tactile telepathy that Vulcan’s had going on because he can’t tell what Mack’s thinking and it’s driving him crazy.

He can see from the corner of his eye that Mack keeps glancing over at him and looks away, ignoring the expanse of skin that’s been revealed as they strip.

There’s a blast of lasers, his own invention that kills spores and pollens but leaves the skin perfectly fine, clearing out anything that could have fallen onto the floor of the shuttle too. Their dress uniforms get shoved into a decontamination unit that seals automatically, slipping into the spare uniforms that are released to them from a replicator once their done.

“Mack,” He begins but doesn’t say anything beyond that, struggling to find the words.

“It’s fine Turbo. Let’s just…drop it and never talk about it again.” Mack turns away from him when the main part of the pilot part of the shuttle opens revealing Trip and Jemma who come over to scan them and make sure everything else is fine.

“You both seem perfectly fine now. What was the pollen that you had gotten into?” Jemma asks, like she won’t just examine their uniforms later to discover exactly what it was.

“Just made me sick.” Mack says and takes a seat, back facing them.

Trip and Jemma both look at him confused and Fitz looks away. Jemma gives up and heads over to scan Mack some more to make sure he’s fine.

“What?” Fitz snaps when Trip peers at him closely.

“Is that a hickey?” Trip asks.

Fitz’s hand flies to his neck and he flushes in memory of Mack pushing him against a tree, body warm against his own. “No. Got hit by debris.”

He scurries to a seat telling Trip that they should go now along the way.

The whole ride back he and Mack don’t say anything, or when they get to the ship, or when they go to part to their individual rooms.

Fitz is just left standing in the hallway wondering what they’re going to do now.


End file.
